On the Bolivian Altiplano, under the frigid air from
a distant Andean cordillera, the streets of Atocha were deserted until a spy
spotted a stranger with a camera and sent two cyclists to find out who he was. I
photographed them from the square’s kiosk.

Wet from racing in drenching rain the toy trucks they
made out of discarded tins, those kids in the Philippines’s Lakanaon Island find
it hilarious that a stranger would show interest in their creative production.

The steerable wheeled board this boy built in Silvia,
in Colombia’s Cauca Department, reaches
great speed down Andean streets. On market day he also uses it to earn tips
transporting people’s purchases.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

An Ewe boy off Atorkor, near Keta, on the coast of Ghana,
rests from pulling the toy truck he built with sticks, fruits, and empty milk
cans. Photographed in 1969 for a children’s book on the
lives of a little fisherman and his family and friends. See below.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

There are no toy
shops in the developing world. Kids make their own toys. Mostly the boys. And
in nearly all cases they want them to represent cars and trucks. Like this Hausa
boy of Agadez, a Saharan town in Niger, who used wire and a tin can. I
photographed him in 1963, when photo editors were still using more
black-and-white than color.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Fifteen-year-old Raisha, a Tuareg girl of the Sahara in Niger, is
blowing on a fire she is starting to cook her family’s millet porridge, eaten
with camel milk twice a day. Next to her
sits a small cousin.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

In a poor neighborhood of Cali, Colombia, proudly observed by her
parents, a little girl marches away from a loving home on her way to school. Faith
in a brighter future is evident on this small family’s faces.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Little Tuareg girl of Niger’s Sahara holding a bowl under the udder of a
she-camel her mother is milking on the other side. The baby camel had its share
of the milk first, but is trying to push the girl aside to resume its suckling,
which will be allowed later. The Tuareg of Niger have only camel milk for
breakfast. For lunch and dinner they wet a millet porridge with more camel milk.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

This sheep-herding gaucho of Argentina’s Patagonia shows more than a
little Mapuche ancestry in his eyes. He does not use the traditional black Zorro
hat popular in the Pampa to the north because tempestuous winds would keep him
running after it. On certain days or places he would need to pull his cap down
so much that they would bend his ears down too. The Patagonian wind is so
violent that, in 1984, having lost one of my two horses while crossing that vast
empty green universe, it pulled so much water from my eyes that they would not
let me scan the horizon.

Signed Prints

There are a thousand pictures on this blog. For a limited time, I'm offering three 8 x 10 inch signed prints of any of them for only $99, shipping included to American addresses. Other sizes available. For more information write to viengleb@aol.com